4
6The Daily Tar Heel Tuesday, October 15, 1985
1
latin (Uar
93 rd year of editorial freedom
Arm Rk ki ut ano
VJltnr
Managing Editor
Associate Editor
Associate Editor
University Editor
Seu s Editor
State and National Editor
Stuart Tonkinson
Bkn Perkowski
Dick Anderson
Janet Olson
Jami White
Andy Trincia
Bias can be good objective
James Tobin is a liberal. He admits
it. Sterling Professor of economics at
Yale University and the 1980 winner of
the Nobel Prize in economics, Tobin and
his opinions are highly regarded both
in and out of academic circles. During
class, Tobin advocates big government
and higher taxes, even though those
ideas may be somewhat anachronistic in
this age of supply-side mania.
And, as The New York Times
reported Sunday during a feature on the
man some call America's leading macro
economist, "on campus, he is known as
a professor who encourages debate and
dissent. .
Should this great thinker's lectures be
regulated? No way.
Another neo-conservative student
political group has sprouted recently and
is urging peers to take to the right.
Accuracy in Academia, a national
organization that's an offshoot of
Accuracy in Media, is in its infancy but
maturing very quickly. ,
AI A's professed goal is to remove bias
from the lectures of America's profes
sors. Should this goal be accomplished,
it would irreparably alter the nature of
American higher education. The tradi
tional atmosphere, the very ingrained
purpose of major universities (such as
UNC and N.C. State, AIA's targets in
North Carolina) promotes the cultiva
tion of a liberal bias by evoking thought
A loss of voice
Much has been written about the lives,
and deaths, of Orson Welles and Yul
Brynner, both of whom died last
Thursday. Each had made their mark
made a difference in the field of
work for which they were best known,
Welles in the cinema and Brynner in the
theatre. But there was a third death
Saturday one that you won't likely
see splashed across front pages or
commanding much air time on the
evening news. Here was another man
who, in his own quirky way, raised the
level of his profession to an art form.
Johnny Olson died Saturday of a
stroke at age 75.
Who, you might ask, is Johnny Olson?
Certainly he does not command the
household-name recognition of a Welles
or Brynner. Yet three simple words will
immortalize his memory.
"Come on down!"
Olson was the announcer for The
Price is Right, one of daytime television's
highest-rated programs. For 13 years,
since the show's debut in 1972, Olson
has beckoned thousands of screaming
contestants from their seats to play
pricing games with the always-congenial
The best of times
Walking around campus these days
without stopping or at least slowing
down to enjoy . . . well, obliviously
walking around campus ... is a crime;
for these days are days of sensual
overload. On the best of days, the air
is crisp, the sun is shining in a cloudless
sky, there's a light, cool breeze and
swirling about the sidewalks and build
ings politely demanding a lazier more
respectful pace - are the spectacular
autumn colors of fallen leaves.
Yes autumn is arriving at UNC and
it's time we all got out and made the
best of it before dreary winter makes
the campus vegetation and everything
and everyone else take on the stark
countenance required by the cold,
overcast, miserably gray days that
suspiciously coincide with finals.
What transforms this wonderfully
pleasant time of year, each year, into
the sorrowful season of white skies and
barren trees? Enquiring minds want to
know. And among these enquiring
minds, surprisingly enough, are some
scientific minds namely, botanists.
You see, as everyone who observes
the changing seasons knows: autumn's
transformation to winter, while beautiful
in its variety of colors, has the depressing
ultimate effect of a bunch of dead, brown
leaves scattered below a bunch of tall,
skeleton-like sticks, previously known as
trees. However, as everyone might not
know, botanists are just about as baffled
by this leave-falling-thing as the rest of
David Schmidt
Editor
Loretta Grantham
Mark Powell
Lee Roberts
Elizabeth Ellen
Sharon Sheridan
Larry Childress
City Editor
Business Editor
Sports Editor
Arts Editor
Features Editor
Photo Editor
expressed through new ideas, alterna
tives, change. Revocation of free speech
under any illegitimate guise would all
but eliminate this invaluable exchange
between faculty and students.
Ah, a new word enters the picture
liberal. AIA claims to be searching to
root out all bias for the protection of
those naive students who will accept
what they hear without debating the
issue. Not only does this theory deny
the student the least iota of credit for
his or her ability to think, but what about
monitoring lectures for a bias at tradi
tionally conservative schools such as
Wake Forest, or Campbell College?
Suppose David Funderburk the
candidate of the Congressional Club
seeking to fill John East's U.S. Senate
seat returns to teaching after losing
his race or serving in the Senate. Is AIA
going to monitor Funderburk's lectures
to prevent him from giving naive
students a double-barrel load of the
Moral Majority and anti-abortion
doctrine he advocates in his Senate
campaign? That's very doubtful.
For that matter, what about conser
vative opinions at UNC, called by Jesse
Helms and his supporters the liberal
bastion of the state? Conservative
professors have just as much right to
espouse their views as liberal ones.
That's why this is higher education.
Bob Barker.
But Olson was always more than just
an off-screen voice. He has been as much
a part of the show as Barker, and his
role in the show's success is instrumental
and will be missed.
Olson, as his age would indicate, was
a veteran of his profession. His announc
ing career stretches back into the 1940s,
when he himself emceed such radio game
shows as Break the Bank and Mr. Quiz.
In the '60s, he was the announcer for
The Jackie Gleason Show on CBS-TV.
But we will best remember Olson for
his work in the 70s, which, in addition
to The Price is Right, included stints on
To Tell the Truth, The Match Game and
What's My Line?
Fortunately, Olson's professionalism
and dedication to his profession did not
go unrecognized. This past summer
Olson was awarded a special daytime
Emmy for 40 years in the business.
A talent such as Olson's does not come
along every day. His voice rich and
clear and distinctive, like Welles' was
his greatest gift, a gift he shared with
millions through radio and television.
His is a talent that will be missed.
us.
In his book "Leaves: Their Amazing
Lives and Strange Behavior," a botanist
wrote that fall colors "apparently play
no practical role whatsoever in nature's
scheme of things. This is both surprising
and puzzling, since nature seldom wastes
energy to no purpose. Yet insofar as
botanists can determine, the chemical
energy that goes into the painting of a
leaf is of no benefit at all to the plant.
The colors seem merely to herald the
end of a leafs life cycle."
Although why leaves fall remains a
mystery, thus adding an interesting facet
to the fall phenomenonm, where they
fall doesn't keep science guessing. But
where they fall should give us, that is
those of us here at UNC, even more
reason to pause and feel lucky for
it is only in North America, the British
Isles, west-central Europe, eastern China
and parts of Japan that trees are mainly
deciduous (i.e, any plant that sheds its
leaves for winter).
And not only that, for those looking
for even more reasons to enjoy this time,
the sunniest season for this leave-falling-thing
occurs in the narrow region
between the Mississippi and the Atlantic
and north to Canada that's us, folks.
We realize, of course, that poets do
a much better job of praising the fall
season ("hushed October morning
mild") than any ol' editorial writer, but
we can all compete in the simple job
of enjoying it.
Personal happ
To the editors:
The notion that "being a Chris
tian is the only thing that can bring
lasting joy, hope and peace in an
individual's life" is pernicious
nonsense ("U.S. has collective
responsibility to God," Oct. 14). The
logical extension of such a view
point is that those of different
creeds, or those who, after careful
study and reflection, have chosen
secular humanism in short, the
majority of the globe ought to
resign themselves to despair. Steve
Matheny apparently believes that
poor eskimoes and tribesmen who
are without the benefit of his
Sunday School education are con
demned to unhappiness. That's one
way of viewing things; fortunately,
it's not the only one. As "anyone
vaguely familiar with the crusades,
inquisitions, rape of Africa, slaugh
ter of Indians, or history of fried
dissenters ought to understand, the
attitude that one's own opinion
alone has credence has more often
than not been the basis for collective
irresponsibility.
Individual happiness is possible
without Christianity. It was for
Greeks and Egyptians, and is
undoubtedly so for many Arabs and
Hindus today. And if anything,
AMP f ME A
Stick to the truth
To the editors:
In the current debate on South
Africa, Zimbabwe is often used as
an example by both the left and the
right. Apart from problems with
parallelism, many of the examples
vary from misleading to totally
wrong. The Pit function on Friday
was a good example. Allen Taylor
stated that Zimbabwe has "had one
man, one vote, one time." This is
untrue. Zimbabwe has had three
elections, all monitored by interna
tional organizations, since Univer
sal Franchise in 1979. Perhaps
Taylor meant Uganda. He also
stated that Zimbabwe was a "Marx
S I
ist dictatorship." If Marxist, it is a
strange kind of Marxism that has
American companies eager to
invest. As to dictatorship, it is
certainly authoritarian, but it is less
of a dictatorship than at any time
in history. Again, perhaps Taylor
meant some other African country.
Meanwhile, the left came up with
a howler of its own. Dale McKinley
stated that there was "CIA invol
vement" in Zimbabwe during the
Smith and Muzorewa governments.
This is misleading; it is obviously
intended to lead freshmen to infer
that those governments had CIA
backing. I very much doubt that the
Nit-picks, pans
To the editors:
Reading Friday's DTH was
indeed a pleasure for a change. It
started with my wondering why the
bottom quote was "Rosebud." I had
seen Citizen Kane in English 42
(before I dropped it the day of the
first mid-term), so I was ecstatic to
see the link to the announcement
of Orson Welles' death. Not that his
death makes me happy; rather, the
quote meant something for a
change. You guys have been pretty
bland since the "God is dead" quote
(Sept. 4). I know why you ran that
one; I saw the pleas for letters to
the editors in the weeks preceding.
Did you all get too much mail and
take a rest? I will admit the quote
"A picture is worth a thousand
words" (Sept. 16) kept me laughing
for a week in light of it virtually
being the caption and the copy for
the picture of the new Delta Delta
Delta pledge being baptized in beer.
I caught the humor. You have at
least one reader that understands
(!?)you.
But back to Friday's paper. I
would ask Alexandra Mann for a
personal apology and a "for the
record" because of the statement
"... he holds a full-grown man by
the feet from a cliff before dropping
him, ..." in her review of Com
mando ("Schwarzenegger film all
muscle, little acting," Oct. 11). It
does leave a little ambiguity. My
Arnold would never be unable to
hold a man in such a way for as
long as he cared. He had to have
dropped him on purpose. I demand
it printed for the public good.
Another thing that really peeves
me. I love the humor of the sports
staff, but get real, guys: Where's the
Tennessee vs. Florida pick? Is this
game, in which two powerhouses
Obscenity law
By MARGIE WALKER
North Carolina's new obscenity law has one
redeeming value its inference clause. This
clause states that adults cannot be depicted as
minors in pornography. Because it is illegal
already to use minors, adult women are often
shown in scenarios with shaved pubic areas,
saddle shoes and knee-high socks, in order to
represent children. These scenarios help justify
the growing problem of child sexual abuse.
Unfortunately, this clause is attached to an
obscenity law whose premise I cannot support
as a feminist.
Obscenity is a moral judgment that, at the
very least, is too vague to be legally effective.
Obscene material is judged by community
standards of what appeals to the prurient
interests. Obscene material, taken as a whole,
lacks serious literary, artistic, political or
scientific value. In the past, birth control
information fell under these standards of
obscenity in order to stop the distribution of such
information. As a woman and a feminist, I
disagree with the basic assumptions that define
obscenity. These assumptions are: 1) that women
are lewd and filthy and therefore pictures of
women are obscene; 2) that materials should be
judged on the basis of whether men gain erections
(i.e., prurient interest); 3) and that the addition
of an interview or scientific research negates the
detrimental effect of the material. Obscenity does
not address the harm and victimization women
suffer from pornography because obscenity and
pornography are not one in the same.
In contrast to obscenity, pornography is a
political practice, a practice of power and
powerlessness. Pornography is legally defined by
Catherine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin in
their civil rights ordinance as, "the graphic
sexually explicit subordination of women
READER FORUM
iness possible without Christianity
these later religions are more purely
practiced today than Christianity
whole villages in Arab countries
pray five times a day and Hindus
care far less about cars and blue
jeans. But what rankles me about
Matheny's position is that it implic
itly lacks the spirit of tolerance and
open-mindedness upon which col
lective happiness is generally
dependent.
Harmonious existence is impor
tant to most people, not just
Christians, and until "Christians"
allow this they are actually divisive.
Non-Christians are equally against
murder, and as Bertrand Russell has
r bingo ll 7
as$& '
I In X
about South Africa
CIA would have risked the wrath
of Congress in the 1970s. The CIA
also provided vital intercepts of the
1979 Rhodesian invasion of Mozam
bique that enabled the United States
and Britain to force the Rhodesian
withdrawal. The only national
intelligence organizations providing
assistance to the governments in
question were the South African
DNS and the Israeli Mossad.
Members of both the left and the
right would do themselves and their
audience a favor if they stuck to the ,
truth.
Nick Bagshawe
Chapel Hill
and plaudits for
who now hate each other since
Tennessee had Florida's Southeast
Conference title stripped from them
on technical points, not important?
(By the way, I'm from Knoxville.)
On the good side, I'm glad you
were rebuked on the He-Man issue
("He-Man's no sissy, 'DTH";).
Obviously you guys don't believe in
Mom, apple pie, utter manliness,
actih and myosih, or protein shakes.
He-Man is the ultimate; no disguise,
no tricks my gosh, look at his
name!
Question: Did Don Johnson,
who now plays a big boy and his
crocodile (or is it alligator?), once
star in A Boy and his Dog? Please,
Don learn how to iron collars
so you can wear some real shirts.
I guess I got carried away on this
letter, but I wanted you to know
that I really do read the MTH, I
mean, the DTH, and enjoy it. I was
doesn't address
'Pornography silences us
dehumanized as sexual objects, things, or
commodities, enjoying pain or humiliation or
rape, being tied up, cut up, mutilated, bruised,
or physically hurt, in postures of sexual
submission or servility or display, reduced to
body parts, penetrated by objects or animals,
or presented in scenarios of degradation, injury,
torture, shown as filthy or inferior, bleeding,
bruised, or hurt in a context that makes these
conditions sexual."
Such an ordinance allows women who were
coerced or otherwise harmed by pornography
to sue for damages. This law allows women
compensation for some of the damage done to
them it does not allow any sort of police action
or prior restraint. Furthermore, the ordinance
empowers women to remove the permanent
record of their sexual assault from the
marketplace.
Do you think Linda Marchiano (AKA Linda
Lovelace, who was kidnapped and imprisoned
for many years, during which she was coerced
into filming Deep Throat) encourages the playing
of Deep Throat because of the enormous
revenues it brings her? Do you think she enjoys
watching that movie, recalling fond memoris of
all the great times she had on the set? NO! Every
time that movie shows, men are able to gain
vicarious satisfaction from watching her rape;
without this ordinance she cannot remove that
"protected speech" from the marketplace.
As an aside to all women more and more
rapes are being videotaped, so maybe you too
will have the "choice" to satisfy men for 25 cents
as the star of some peep show. Not only are
real women being hurt to produce pornography,
real women are being harassed, battered and
demonstrated in an article on
agnosticism, no more likely to
commit it. The humanist is less
concerned with whether God loves
murderers and forgives them uncon-
' ditionally, and concentrates on
making a collective effort to
improve conditions so that fewer
murders will occur. A comforting
creed to follow and cross to bear
are wonderful when they inspire
people to laudable behavior, but
. when creeds become blinders that
prevent a dynamic response to
complex issues they are in large part
responsible for the inevitable
damage.
Paul Lyons
Chapel Hill
Don't forget
UNICEF on
Halloween
To the editors:
There are only 16 days until
Halloween, and as the DTH editor
ialized last week (". . . and not 23
days too soon"), it's not too early
to be thinking about your costume.
It's also not too early to be seeing
those orange and black UNICEF
boxes floating around. What's the
deal with those boxes anyway? Well,
Oct. 31 is National UNICEF Day,
and the trick-or-treat campaign,
symbolized by the boxes, provides
for a large percentage of UNICEF's
funds. UNICEF, United Nations
Childrens Fund founded in 1946,
uses those funds to educate women
on child care and provide directly
for the children of developing
countries with medical care, food
distribution and community-based
services. UNICEF is fighting a silent
battle that has always existed in
developing countries, and which has
only recently been heard because of
the most drastic conditions of
drought in Africa and natural
disaster in Mexico. UNICEF has
been working in those countries for
39 years, and now, more than ever,
needs support to help children in
those disaster areas. So, when you
see those boxes around campus, on
store counters or when UNICEF
trick-or-treaters come to your door,
think of the children UNICEF will
be helping with your funds and give
generously. With 40,000 children
dying a day of disease and malnu
. trition, UNICEF has a big job.
Campus Y
Committee for UNICEF
Friday's paper
pleased with the editorial on Yul
Brynner ("Yul Brynner and us") and
the column on Orson Welles ("To
man in his singular state"). I'm so
tired of apartheid, liberals conser
vatives, etc. It's nice to read some
thing interesting without earth
shaking consequence.
Kyle Miller
Ehringhaus
P.S. Tell Guy Lucas I missed him
not being plastered all over the front
page as usual; is he all right?
P.S.S. When will we get the obli
gatory photo of construction-worker-at-the-end-of-a-hard-day's-work-silhouetted-on-the-roof?
How
about a photo of construction
workers sitting on their duffs during
every class change watching girls
instead of meeting deadlines?
real problem
if is the rope that gags9
raped with pornography as the script, rehearsal
and justification. If you do not think this is so,
talk to the Native American woman who was
gang-raped by men who kept yelling, "(t)his is
better than Custer's last Stand (sic)!" in reference
to a video game that offers a "squaw" to rape
as reward for completing certain levels of
difficulty.
Pornography is bigotry, discrimination and
libel, but it is not a First Amendment issue. There
are exceptions to the First Amendment, and one
of those exceptions is speech that causes harm.
Pornography not only causes harm to women
but it conditions men to respond to sexual
violence toward women and the domination of
women with orgasm. It teaches men to break
us into parts, to grade us, and to ascertain our
worth by how sexually appealing or available
we are to them. Is there any wonder that
inequalities exist in the hiring, firing, pay and
advancement of women, especially when these
inequalities are directly tied to male sexual
pleasure!
MacKinnon states that pornography has never
served as speech for women those who think
the, "f me, beat me, harder," in pornography
come from women have never heard a woman's
voice. Pornography silences us it is the rope
that gags and the hood that covers. This silence
has been taken for consent for too long; until
every woman stands up and confronts the lies
told in our name, real women will continue to
be considered secondary to the fantasy image
projected by pornography.
Margie Walker is a junior speech commun
ications major from Greensboro.